General Statement 



1. Ohio has 28 southeastern unglaciated hill counties that are 

 essentially worthless for pheasant production and 15 additional counties 

 (mostly northeastern) that are relatively unproductive, "because of mis- 

 cellaneous factors. " ■ 



2. In the remaining 45 counties (all either Till Plain or Lake 

 Plain counties) corn is the predominant agricultural crop and the natural 

 pheasant-producing capacity' is high. 



3. In many of these 45 counties (west central and northwestern Ohio) 

 the pheasant-producing capacity has "been greatly increased during the last 

 ten years "by the adoption and extension of the Ohio pheasant-refuge manage- 

 ment system and the spread of the Wood County plan of controlled hunting. 



4. These developments have made the ring-necked pheasant the principal 

 game "bird of Ohio and have made possible the largest pheasant harvest of any 

 State east of the Mississippi, a take of more than 620,000 male "birds' annually. 

 More than 98 percent of this crop is produced "by natural, propagation, and in 

 the "best producing counties no artificially propagated "birds are released. 



5. The Ohio pheasant-refuge management system was developed from 1928 

 "to 1932 and has "been expanding rapidly and with increasing success since that 

 time . 



6. The food County controlled-hunting plan "began 'in 1930 and 1931 and 

 has "been so successful that it has spread to all "but one township in the co-'onty 

 and is "being adopted as rapidly as organization can "be effected in many town- 

 ships of other counties of northwestern Ohio. 



7. The Ohio Wildlife Research Station, a cooperative organization 

 maintained jointly "by the Ohio State University, the American Wildlife 

 Institute, t"ne State Division of Conservation, and the Federal Bureau of 

 Biological Survey, has made "both the pheasant refuge-management system and 

 the controlled-hunting system t"ne su"bjects of major research, with three men 

 assigned to the work. One of its staff members has "been closely associated 

 with the present pro"blems and related pheasant research since 1925. 



The Ohio Pheasant-Refuge Management System 



The Ohio pheasant-refuge management system involves — 



1. A large permanent State-owned or State-leased centrally located 

 refuge in each to\7nship of 100 to 400 acres, including at least 40 acres of 

 timber and brush with some adjacent waste land and a network of drainage 

 ditches for use as dispersal paths. 



2 - 



